The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam • Hacker News Board

Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam

#201

Post by apk17 » Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 2:12 AM UTC

grkvlt wrote: post #179

CyberDildonics wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pretty easy to create a virus or something Step 1: Find someone using encryption Step 2: ???? pretty easy to create a virus or something ???? Step 3: Access encrypted information. Why dig a well when water evaporates into the air? Because pragmatically the amount of water over time matters and what could be described in an incredibly naive way as an absolute suddenly becomes a very different scenario when looking a…

> The NSA has tapped fiber backbones [...] If you think there is already no privacy, post [etc.] I'm actually OK with the idea of sending my full name, address and a picture of myself in the shower to the NSA, CIA, SIS or similar, to be included in one of their databases. Because that's what we're talking about, privacy from law enforcement and intelligence agencies searching for criminals, spies, terrorists etc. To…

And OPM didn't happen, and will never happen again, anywhere.

Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam

#202

Post by alanwatts » Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 2:15 AM UTC

kuschku wrote: post #161

alanwatts wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time you use your phone your camera is on your face. Facial microexpressions could be automatically detected and analyzed based on the content the user was viewing at the time. This information could provide a detailed emotional picture of the individual as it relates to different stimuli.

Starbug (CCC hacker) recently found something even better. You can use the reflection in the eye as keylogger for, say, PIN entry dialogs.

If you've already got access to the camera, would it not in many cases be trivial to have access to the keyboard?

Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam

#203

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 5:47 AM UTC

tdaltonc wrote: post #198

superuser2 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With people who are intrinsically motivated to do a good job. Craftspeople take pride in their work, because doing it well feels better than doing it poorly. They'll voluntarily make their own jobs more difficult if it makes the project better, even in ways that only others skilled in their craft would notice. They'll actually fight management for more hours, more money, better tools, different processes, etc. so the…

Suppose there are 500 craftsman working together on a project because it too big for a smaller group to handle. How do they divide work? Especially when it comes to the work that everyone wants to do, or the work that no body wants to do? How do they resolve disagreements about what 'better' means? If caftman-1 says that craftman-2's performance is holding him back, while craftman-2 says that craftman-1 is asking him…

[deleted]

Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam

#204

Post by kuschku » Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 9:49 AM UTC

alanwatts wrote: post #202

kuschku wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starbug (CCC hacker) recently found something even better. You can use the reflection in the eye as keylogger for, say, PIN entry dialogs.

If you've already got access to the camera, would it not in many cases be trivial to have access to the keyboard?

Not when apps implement their own keyboard, for example, PayPal.

Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam

#205

Post by bobsil1 » Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 10:45 AM UTC

blackbagboys wrote: post #48

white-flame wrote: post #2

To me, Comey is a man who has lost the goal in pursuit of his particular mission. Defense, intelligence, policing, all these things exist in order to uphold the constitution, protect the "American ideals", etc. Many of his statements pretty directly show that he doesn't care about the collateral damage to innocent people's privacy or any founding principles, he just wants his mission to be unhindered. It's the same m…

This is a pattern you see in a lot of high-performing people. They aren't particularly interested in the 'big picture'. They may say they are, they may think they are, but on a practical, day-to-day basis, it's irrelevant. They know the mission of their organizational unit, they know the goals that need to be accomplished to achieve that mission, they know the metrics they need to hit to advance within that organizat…

You need to incorporate the big picture into the promotion incentives. Safety not # of FBI cases, health not # of hospital procedures, security not DOD wars.

Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam

#206

Post by ci5er » Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 2:18 PM UTC

superuser2 wrote: post #194

tdaltonc wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the alternatives? I'm honestly asking. How can I coordinate the activities of 100+ people to a common goal, without providing intermediate goals to individuals?

With people who are intrinsically motivated to do a good job. Craftspeople take pride in their work, because doing it well feels better than doing it poorly. They'll voluntarily make their own jobs more difficult if it makes the project better, even in ways that only others skilled in their craft would notice. They'll actually fight management for more hours, more money, better tools, different processes, etc. so the…

This is a very interesting topic to me.

On one hand, you want to (in my world) empower developers and let them take ownership of ... whatever. On the other hand, you want to learn, as a group how to do better. On the gripping hand, you want to be able to tell the customers (and investors) what to expect and when.

It seems as if you can do the combination of #1 & #3, somehow, without tracking what you are doing and how you are doing it, but that #2 requires us to baseline what we are doing and try to brainstorm about what we can try in an attempt to, as a functional group, do better.

In your world, measurement is "bad" for an individual's autonomy. And it may well be. How does an organization accomplish goal #2 (and #3) along with #1?

Anecdotally, I found that the self-directed process improvement (PSP - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_software_process) helped a great deal. I didn't go overboard with formalism, just jotted myself some notes along the way during the week that I spent 20 minutes compiling on Friday, but I found that I had to record what I was doing to even know what I was doing. And that's just me. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I really didn't know. And my own estimates of what I was doing were ... surprisingly off.

Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam

#207

Post by dclowd9901 » Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 2:49 PM UTC

krick wrote: post #186

white-flame wrote: post #2

To me, Comey is a man who has lost the goal in pursuit of his particular mission. Defense, intelligence, policing, all these things exist in order to uphold the constitution, protect the "American ideals", etc. Many of his statements pretty directly show that he doesn't care about the collateral damage to innocent people's privacy or any founding principles, he just wants his mission to be unhindered. It's the same m…

> all these things exist in order to uphold the constitution, protect the "American ideals", etc Excuse me, but you are made to believe that they exist in order to uphold the constitution and yada yada.

So true. The original constitution is pretty clear on inalienable rights and such, but truthfull, the current government operates a bit more like an HR department, talking about helping you, but really merely trying to maintain a status quo.

Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam

#208

Post by noddingham » Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 3:55 PM UTC

ci5er wrote: post #206

superuser2 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With people who are intrinsically motivated to do a good job. Craftspeople take pride in their work, because doing it well feels better than doing it poorly. They'll voluntarily make their own jobs more difficult if it makes the project better, even in ways that only others skilled in their craft would notice. They'll actually fight management for more hours, more money, better tools, different processes, etc. so the…

This is a very interesting topic to me. On one hand, you want to (in my world) empower developers and let them take ownership of ... whatever. On the other hand, you want to learn, as a group how to do better. On the gripping hand, you want to be able to tell the customers (and investors) what to expect and when. It seems as if you can do the combination of #1 & #3, somehow, without tracking what you are doing and ho…

You aren't alone in your realization. I did the PSP for a while and found the same.

We are about one month into a three-month experiment where we are asking people to track time on their activities (mix of IT and developers). For some, it is a struggle with all the complaints when you try to make a small group "corporate". For others, they are having huge revelations of where their time is going that (I think) has been valuable.

What I've been trying to communicate is that the time tracking data has nothing to do with the individual, and is not being used as a measure of performance (it really isn't, and it isn't on anyones performance plans). What it IS being used for is a way for us to communicate with senior leadership to better demonstrate our value to the organization (in terms they are more familiar with). Basically, the "IT needs to better speak to the business" conversation that's been going on for ~15 years or so now. I suppose you could also tie it into the topic of when a startup grows beyond x people, with x in the range of 30-50 people.

Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam

#209

Post by coliveira » Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 7:07 PM UTC

diego_moita wrote: post #176

coliveira wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why smart people have so much trust on encryption mechanisms. For any information to be useful, it has to be converted in some way. For example, if it is an image it has to be unconverted and presented as pixels in a screen. If you're typing an email it has to come unencrypted from a keyboard. Encryption only make it difficult to access the information once it is transmitted, but it is still pretty…

I got dizzy by your own confusion on this subject. You need encryption for the same reason you need locks. Locks are not the only trick to provide you security but they are pretty much a very necessary tool. Without solid encryption you can't have a lot of the good things on the internet: online banking, online shopping, filling taxes online,... > it is still pretty easy to create a virus or something that access the…

My point still remains. Even if you have good encryption, pure reliance on that puts you at risk in so many other ways in which information can be accessed. Any time you see information, access your bank accounts, create an email, etc., your information is at risk, and that has nothing to do with the amount of encryption you're using, because encryption will only work during the data transfer/storage stages.

Re: The FBI Director Puts Tape Over His Webcam

#210

Post by c22 » Sun, Apr 10, 2016, 7:13 PM UTC

grkvlt wrote: post #179

CyberDildonics wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pretty easy to create a virus or something Step 1: Find someone using encryption Step 2: ???? pretty easy to create a virus or something ???? Step 3: Access encrypted information. Why dig a well when water evaporates into the air? Because pragmatically the amount of water over time matters and what could be described in an incredibly naive way as an absolute suddenly becomes a very different scenario when looking a…

> The NSA has tapped fiber backbones [...] If you think there is already no privacy, post [etc.] I'm actually OK with the idea of sending my full name, address and a picture of myself in the shower to the NSA, CIA, SIS or similar, to be included in one of their databases. Because that's what we're talking about, privacy from law enforcement and intelligence agencies searching for criminals, spies, terrorists etc. To…

How do you feel about sharing it with everyone else at the coffee shop you frequent or the 14 year old "network administrator" at your friend's house? Encryption protects against these threats also.